Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Oct 21;18(21):11048.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111048.

Quality of Life (QoL) Is Reduced in Those with Severe COVID-19 Disease, Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19, and Hospitalization in United States Adults from Northern Colorado

Kim McFann  1 , Bridget A Baxter  2 , Stephanie M LaVergne  2 , Sophia Stromberg  2 , Kailey Berry  2 , Madison Tipton  1 , Jared Haberman  2 , Jeremy Ladd  2 , Tracy L Webb  3 , Julie A Dunn  1 , Elizabeth P Ryan  2
Affiliations

Quality of Life (QoL) Is Reduced in Those with Severe COVID-19 Disease, Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19, and Hospitalization in United States Adults from Northern Colorado

Kim McFann et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The longitudinal quality of life (QoL) of COVID-19 survivors, especially those with post-acute sequelae (PASC) is not well described. We evaluated QoL in our COVID-19 survivor cohort over 6 months using the RAND SF-36 survey. From July 2020-March 2021 we enrolled 110 adults from the United States with a positive SARS-CoV-2 nasopharyngeal polymerase chain reaction (PCR) into the Northern Colorado Coronavirus Biobank (NoCo-COBIO). Demographic data and symptom surveillance were collected from 62 adults. In total, 42% were hospitalized, and 58% were non-hospitalized. The Rand SF-36 consists of 36 questions and 8 scales, and questions are scored 0-100. A lower-scale score indicates a lower QoL. In conclusion, hospitalization, PASC, and disease severity were associated with significantly lower scores on the RAND SF-36 in Physical Functioning, Role Limitation due to Physical Health, Energy/Fatigue, Social Functioning, and General Health. Long-term monitoring of COVID-19 survivors is needed to fully understand the impact of the disease on QoL and could have implications for interventions to alleviate suffering during recovery.

Keywords: COVID-19; COVID-19 severity; SF-36; hospitalization; post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC); quality of life.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Fernández-Abascal E.G., Martín-Díaz M.D. Longitudinal Study on Affect, Psychological Well-Being, Depression, Mental and Physical Health, Prior to and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain. Personal. Individ. Differ. 2021;172:110591. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110591. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Al Dhaheri A.S., Bataineh M.F., Mohamad M.N., Ajab A., Al Marzouqi A., Jarrar A.H., Habib-Mourad C., Abu Jamous D.O., Ali H.I., Al Sabbah H., et al. Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health and Quality of Life: Is There Any Effect? A Cross-Sectional Study of the MENA Region. PLoS ONE. 2021;16:e0249107. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249107. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huang C., Huang L., Wang Y., Li X., Ren L., Gu X., Kang L., Guo L., Liu M., Zhou X., et al. 6-Month Consequences of COVID-19 in Patients Discharged from Hospital: A Cohort Study. Lancet Lond. Engl. 2021;397:220–232. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32656-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Davis H.E., Assaf G.S., McCorkell L., Wei H., Low R.J., Re’em Y., Redfield S., Austin J., Akrami A. Characterizing Long COVID in an International Cohort: 7 Months of Symptoms and Their Impact. Lancet. 2021;38 doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101019. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nehme M., Braillard O., Alcoba G., Aebischer Perone S., Courvoisier D., Chappuis F., Guessous I. COVID-19 Symptoms: Longitudinal Evolution and Persistence in Outpatient Settings. Ann. Intern. Med. 2020 doi: 10.7326/M20-5926. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types